


I Can Hear You

by KazsSunglasses



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, VKaz Week 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-18
Updated: 2016-09-18
Packaged: 2018-08-15 16:22:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8063458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KazsSunglasses/pseuds/KazsSunglasses
Summary: VKaz Week 2016 prompt for day 7: I Can Hear You.





	

Venom Snake sat opposite Ocelot at his desk. Putting his head in his hands, V let out a defeated sigh. 

“What is it Boss? Surely your missions this week haven’t been too hard on you.” 

“I wish it was just the missions… It’s Kaz. For the last month or so, things just haven’t been the same. He doesn’t even stay with me overnight anymore, he’s been giving excuses as to why he can’t, or sneaking out in the middle of the night. It’s like nothing I do gets through to him, and there’s just not much else to try anymore…” 

V sat up and leaned forward on the desk; it was then that Ocelot noticed an unfamiliar shadow. “Now Boss, you might want to consider—“

Venom cut him off before he could finish his thought, “I’m just at the point of giving up Ocelot, he’s not putting forth the effort, why should I at this point. Kaz has been pulling this angry-revenge persona for too long now, it’s just putting strain on everyone—“ V stopped mid rant as Ocelot leaned over to get a better look out the window. Then they heard the obvious sound of a crutch, followed by the door slamming open.

“I can hear you.” Kaz said through gritted teeth. “You want to give up on me?! V, you haven’t even told me that there was an issue!”He slammed his crutch on the floor and scoffed. “And to think you’d come talk to Ocelot of all people, before even bringing it up to me. Unbelievable.”

Ocelot slowly stood from his desk. “Boss, I’m gonna head out for the night, leave you two alone… Just lock the office door when you two get done arguing.”

“You must be out of your mind if you think I’m going to stand here all night arguing with V. And of all places, definitely not in your office.” Kaz brushed past Ocelot at the door and started to head toward the living quarters. 

V grumbled and followed Kaz out the door, nodding at Ocelot as he passed. “Kaz, I’m sorry. I should have talked to you first. Let’s go talk things out, please?” He put a hand on Kaz’s shoulder, stopping him. 

“For what purpose? So you can run to Ocelot and say nothing gets through to me or I don’t try in our relationship? Sure, V, sounds really productive.” Regardless, they both continued walking together to V’s room. As they passed soldiers doing their nightly rounds, not a single word was said. Kaz flung the door open and tossed his crutch onto the floor before sitting on the small love-seat in V’s room. V closed the door behind them and simply stood at the door, watching Kaz intently. He appeared to be deep in thought, rubbing his forehead. “I—“ Kaz hesitated, “I just can’t deal with this anymore.” His voice started to grow louder as his frustration became more apparent. “I can’t handle it, V! 

“Can’t handle what, Kaz? Venom sat next to him and placed a hand on his knee. “You haven’t mentioned anything being wrong, and you’ve been avoiding me so much that I haven’t been able to notice anything being wrong. Well, other than you distancing yourself from me.” 

Kaz turned his head away in an attempt to shield his face. “V it’s just… I wake up in the middle of the night and—“ his voice started breaking and his breathing quickened “I’ve just been having these nightmares about.. about being tortured in Afghanistan, and when I do finally wake up I’m in a cold sweat. My arm, leg, they start burning even though I lost them years ago… I can feel the bruises around my neck, the hollow feeling in my chest as I struggled to breathe, and that bag over my head—everything was dark and there was no way to possibly predict what would come next… It’s unbearable V, I can’t take it! I don’t want to come off as weak, it just made more sense to hide it than bother you with it every single night. You have so much more to worry about than me having stupid fucking nightmares every night. I just want it to stop, V.”

At this point, Kaz was nearly in hysterics. Venom pulled him onto his lap, wrapped his arms around his waist, and nuzzled his face into the crook of Kaz’s neck. “Kaz,” he mumbled, “you never have to worry about ‘seeming weak’ or ‘bothering me’. I wish I would have known a long time ago so that instead of thinking we were growing apart, I could have helped you. It’s not exactly uncommon, you know. I’ve dealt with my fair share of it too.”

Kaz wrapped his arm around V and held him as best he could. “There’s no ‘getting better’ to it V… It’s just been getting worse as the weeks pass.” V started to notice tears rolling down Kaz’s cheeks at this point. He wiped them away and brushed his hair away from his face before gently kissing him. “V…” Kaz mumbled, “can you please just forget about this? I don’t want this to turn into some big ordeal, please, I just want it to go away.”

“Kaz, that’s not how this works. You can’t just wish it away, you have to do something about it. We have to do something about it. First thing tomorrow, after you’ve had plenty of rest, we’re going over to the medical platform to get you evaluated and see what we can do.”

“The medical platform?! Are you fucking kidding, V? Nothing says ‘Commander Miller is a weak’ like going to get evaluated by the med team. That’s the quickest way to make sure everyone on base knows. I’m not going.”

“Kaz, what makes you think everyone would automatically assume that means you’re weak? You’re one of the strongest people on this base.”

“How can I expect any of them to look up to me, to respect me, if it’s not even combat that sends me crying to the med team. It’s just the stupid shit inside my head; I should be able to just ignore it.” 

“None of that is true Kaz. PTSD is just a thing that comes with combat, you’ve seen and been through a lot of fucked up stuff. With all that you’ve been through, it would be more concerning if you weren’t going through this. And no one has to know you’re seeing the med team specifically for your mental health. You lost an arm and a leg in a traumatic accident and were tortured for days—wouldn’t that jump to mind first? It’s normal to go in for physical checkups.”

Kaz’s breathing started to become normal again and he sighed. He stood up from V’s lap and pushed him down onto the love-seat, proceeding to lay on top of him. He remained silent for a bit, just running his fingers through V’s hair. “I’m… I’m just scared, V. What if having to face this head on makes it worse? Or what if they can’t make it go away? Or what if someone talks, word spreads across base, and everyone does find out?”

“Kaz, if the men found out, I promise you it would only make them look up to you more. Hell, it might even help some of them out, knowing they aren’t the only ones going through it.” 

“Yeah… I guess I’ll go tomorrow… but only if you come with me, V. No way in hell am I doing this alone.”

“Of course. I’ll be there with you every step of the way.” V kissed Kaz’s forehead and rubbed his back gently. “Now come on, it’s time for both of us to get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a big day—and everything is going to start getting better. I promise.”

**Author's Note:**

> Again, I'm still super new to fic writing, feedback is much appreciated! You can also find me at kazssunglasses.tumblr.com


End file.
